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D&A Alpha DAC & HP Amp Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
In a back-to-the-future way perhaps. Looks like JaFi from exactly that period.
TNT
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Nice unit, great review Amirm!
A bit too much power then necessary? Great specs, but not everyone realizes how delicate their ears are, not to mention their headphones.
Should come with a big sign…
…USE WITH CAUTION…
Yeah I know. Once a mom always a mom, even if I’m a dad… ; )
.
A bit too much power then necessary? Great specs, but not everyone realizes how delicate their ears are, not to mention their headphones.
Should come with a big sign…
…USE WITH CAUTION…
Yeah I know. Once a mom always a mom, even if I’m a dad… ; )
.
Rusk Reeder
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Close to state of the art.
totti1965
Addicted to Fun and Learning
This is a review and detailed measurements of the D&A Alpha balanced DAC and headphone amplifier. It was sent to me by Shenzhen Audio and costs US $399.
View attachment 557103
No, you are not seeing double. What I tested before was the Alpha Pro. The non-pro version has the same distinct white LED and clear front panel with labels that are kind of hard to read. Otherwise, it is a very simple unit to use. I especially like the brightness of LED ring around the volume control changing proportionally to its setting.
I upgraded it before testing it. In the interest of digging my way our of mountain of gear here to test, I focused my testing on balanced output unless said otherwise.
D&A Alpha DAC Measurements
Our usual dashboard produced stunningly good results:
View attachment 557104
We are talking a fraction of a hair below best there has ever been:
View attachment 557105
View attachment 557106
Noise performance is stellar as it should be to get the above result:
View attachment 557107
Max output is higher so it is able to generate even better results if your amplifier can handle it:
View attachment 557108
Multitone shows off the incredibly low distortion products:
View attachment 557109
But we do have a hint of "ESS IMD Hump:"
View attachment 557110
You get that small step up in distortion around -40 dBFS.
Jitter output is clean as a whistle and nicely shows off the multiples of 250 Hz deep in the J-test signal:
View attachment 557112
The DAC doesn't expose filter setting which is fine by me as the default is what I expect:
View attachment 557111
View attachment 557113
Edit: forgot to show THD+N vs Freq:
View attachment 557173
D&A Alpha Headphone Amplifier Measurements
The Pro version had a superb DAC as well but fell short in headphone amplifier department. Not here:
View attachment 557114
That's huge amount of power into such a high impedance load. But it gets better:
View attachment 557115
We are talking 8+ watts into 32 ohm load! Not only can this amp push out voltage, it can back it with ton of current. It should not have trouble driving any headphone to ear bleeding levels.
Lacking an analog negative gain, it only produces average noise results using unbalanced out (balanced was worse):
View attachment 557119
View attachment 557120
EDIT: I see that the specs say low gain is negative so not sure why the results are not better.
D&A Alpha Headphone Listening Tests
Ok, I predicted the Alpha could play loud but didn't think it could get this loud... Using my Dan Clark Core headphone at or above 12:00 in high gain, not only did it threaten my hearing, but managed to threaten the headphone with risk of drive damage! I could hear the bass notes to go from clean to increasingly distorted while my inner ear started to tingle!!! Stuff I do for you all!
Set it at 11:00 and heavy bass demo material makes you feel like your head is inside an orchestra playing not only superbly dynamic, but incredibly clean. Detail hangs out in the air inside your skull like nobody's business. See, I can write flowery subjective sentences without use of AI!
Seriously, the Alpha takes away the worry about not having enough amplification for any headphone while producing stunning fidelity.
Conclusions
I am amazed that D&A when down half in price, took the word "Pro" out of the name and produced a state of the art DAC and headphone amplifier. On the latter, it is able to pump out incredible amount of power, removing any thought of the amplifier getting distorted. If you hear something unthwart, it is your headphone or source, not the Alpha! Your only worry will be hearing damage so I suggest you stay with medium gain unless you are sure you need the high gain.
Listening to the combination of Dan Clark Core and D&A Alpha once again reminds me how far we have come in pushing the state of the art in sound reproduction, albeit by using a headphone. Aha moments come back to back in the same track in the matter of seconds!!! And all this for $399 in a distinctive packaging.
Company deserves especially kudos for improving performance so much yet reducing the retail price significantly.
I am happy to recommend the D&A Alpha DAC and headphone amplifier.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
And the best thing:
The Hifi Rose RD 160 - from which the D&A Alpha stole the optical Design idea is US$ 5995
and it has no headphone amplifier integrated.
15 x the Price of the D&A Alpha - perhaps a bit expensive- but one of the most beautiful hifi-items I ever saw:
The Transparent Aluminum is a Star Trek idea and now real!
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OP
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Yikes,
Thanks, same here.
I now don't feel as distressed about the gear that has accumulated around me.....
I wouldn't say stolen. There are some similarities but the Alpha has a lot more 80s mecha look to it. I don't think Hifi Rose owns silver/grey and sans-serif fonts.
...and of course DSotM...
I’ve been considering the new-ish Schiit Jotunheim 3 headphone amp at $499 without the $150 optional Mesh DAC module, but this D&A Alpha seems seriously competitive on both price and performance.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #35
It is definitely better and cheaper to boot.
totti1965
Addicted to Fun and Learning
The forefather of the 80s mecha look revival:
I guess this is how D&A want to look if you let them build an integrated amp
DSJR
Master Contributor
Gawd that thing looks awful - designed for old wealthy men with 'something missing' in their lives, I suspect..... There are way OTT wrist-watches costing mega-mega-bucks that offer similar over-complexity to suit a particular mindset
Hifi Rose RD 160
Not that i have the money for this (or ever will)
but still, i'd like to see this one tested by Amir.
would be great if the performance would match the looks
Of course it's overpriced, overpriced but beautiful, belongs in MoMa
"the design is subjective but it really like it"
Yes, i like it too, would have been better without the somewhat large "Alpha" lettering though,
could have been a bit more subtle or better still without it or somewhere on the back,
but overall it's different in a good way.
It's that i currently have a very nice DAC, which leaves nothing to be desired for me at the moment (Eversolo Z8),
but otherwise this one would be high on my list, especially given it's performance @this price
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